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Update 10-31-2021: First I would like to express my gratitude and appreciation to all our friends and family for all the love, prayers and support we have received. Grateful thanks to those who have contributed to Paul’s GoFundMe. It has helped us tremendously to get through a rough time.
Since the end of August Paul has had several Specialist appointments: a Neurologist to evaluate his overall treatment path, a Neuromuscular doctor who gave Botox in his arm and leg to reduce contractures, a Neurosurgeon to evaluate replacing the skull bone that is in his abdomen back in his head, a Cardiologist to evaluate his heart condition and medications (as he has atrial fibrillation) and a Pulmonary doctor to evaluate his tracheostomy. He has also had a barium swallow test to evaluate his swallowing ability as he is still being tube fed.
On November 17th, Paul may get his trach closed off. Having a tracheostomy has caused him a lot of irritation and coughing and lack of sleep. He can breathe without it and he is not on oxygen.
On the therapy side of things, he receives Physical Therapy from Home Care and private about 3 times of week. The nurses also do stretching and strengthening exercises a few time a day. We sit him at the edge of the bed and take him outside in the wheel chair. He is still bed bound and has some strength on is right side but little to none on the left side. Speech therapy will be coming next week and will do cognitive and swallowing exercises. We hope that in time he will be able to eat normally and not rely on a feeding tube in his abdomen. It may take a while but we will move forward in that direction. Over the last 10 days, his voice has gotten stronger. We can now have 2-way conversations and he is aware of his surroundings and remembers details from the past which helps to make joint decisions.
Paul has had in-home care since the beginning of August. We now have a live-in nurse 5 days a week which has allowed him to receive consistent care. The other 2 nights he has a day nurse and a night nurse. The night nurse also works at Vibra Rehabilitation Hospital so skilled in rehabilitation. The day nurse is also a respiratory therapist. Paul has a great team of nurses that provide him 1 on 1 care that is not possible at any facility. He has also remained free of the infections that are common is hospitals and skilled nursing facilities. We are very thankful for the team that we have. Having an independent live-in nurse has reduced our out-of-pocket expenses from $31,000 a month to $10,500 a month. If you are able, we still need your help through Paul’s GoFundMe. It will be many many more months of 24/7 LVN nursing care. We hope to get to a point in the future where Paul just needs a nurse’s aide and then hopefully be independent.
Again, I appreciate the outpouring of love, prayers and support we have been shown over the last few of months
Menard
08-31-2021
Menard Jaramillo and Sean Mulligan are organizing this fundraiser on behalf of Paul Ripley's struggle to recover from a large stroke.
OUR GOAL is to get Paul to a healthier and stronger position where he can receive intensive physical, occupational and speech therapies at an acute rehabilitation hospital as they require Paul to be able to do 3 hours of therapy a day. He is currently receiving 24/7 nursing care at home as well as receiving physical and speech therapy. He is getting much, much better care at home than is possible in a skilled nursing facility which could expose him to many infections, thus setting him back. Your donation will go towards the home care that Paul needs to get to the healthy and stronger point where he can qualify to go to a specialty rehabilitation hospital. After rehabilitation, Paul would continue his recovery at home.
Please watch this video to see Paul performing one of the exercises at home care.
https://youtu.be/sVaJILyMkcM
OUR JOURNEY SO FAR – Albuquerque – Paul has been through quite a lot the last couple of months. He had a large Middle Cerebral Artery Stroke while on vacation in New Mexico at the beginning of June 2021. He spent 2 weeks in Neuroscience ICU at University of New Mexico Hospital where he received 2 life savings operations. He was then transferred to an Acute Care Hospital in Albuquerque (AMG Specialty Hospital) where he was stabilized medically over 6 weeks. His next steps are physical, occupational and speech therapy. He still has a tracheostomy; a feeding tube in his abdomen; is receiving medications for atrial fibrillation and is currently bed-bound. As he had a Craniectomy to relieve the swelling from his stroke, he will need to have a surgery at some point to replace the skull bone that was removed. He has made great progress over the last 2 months considering the extent of his stroke, but the next few months are critical to get him mobile. His physical therapist at AMG said that Paul had great potential to recover with extensive physical therapy but it will take time. He may never be his former self, but can gain mobility and improve the quality of his life. Paul has a positive spirit and wants to get better.
OUR JOUNEY BACK HOME – Rancho Mirage – We were fortunate to be able to bring Paul to our home in Rancho Mirage on July 31st and provide him in-home care. His only option when he was released from AMG Hospital in Albuquerque was to go to a nursing home as he didn’t qualify for an in-hospital rehabilitation facility. He would NOT have improved in a nursing home and would have declined drastically. Currently, Paul is receiving in-home nursing care in a safe environment. He is receiving physical therapy 3 times a week and is responding positively. Paul is able to speak intelligibly, but sometimes it is difficult to hear him due to the trach. He sleeps a lot as he is still recovering from the stroke.
WHY WE NEED YOUR HELP – With Covid Delta Variant cases on the increase, home care at this point is his safest option. Paul has had 3 rounds of Pneumonia, and a Staph infection during his 2-month hospital stays in Albuquerque. While Paul is improving, he is still very vulnerable. Getting Pneumonia again at a nursing facility would be a major setback for Paul. I am anticipating Paul will need to stabilize at home for at least 2-3 months before going to rehabilitation facility (such as Vibra) for physical, occupational and speech therapies. The stay there would be 21 days maximum. He would then be discharged back to home care to continue his recovery.
Medicare Home Health Care provides basic support and some physical therapy, but does not provide the 24/7 skilled nursing care that he currently needs due to the complexity of his condition. While he has long-term care insurance, this pays for only 30% of his round the clock nursing care that he needs. The current out-of-pocket expenses for unreimbursed nursing, medication co-pays, supplies and additional physical therapy exceeds $13,000 per month (9-22-21). If you can help monetarily to help Paul's recovery or are aware of any other resources or organizations that can assist, I would appreciate it. We need your help; we can't do this alone.
For those who know Paul well as a friend, family member or co-worker, he is loving, caring and selfless, always willing to help and mentor others.
It’s been difficult for me to navigate his care through Medicare and trying to do what is best for Paul. I appreciate the outpouring of love, prayers and support we have been shown over the last couple of months. This has been quite a journey for me as well. Many of our mutual friends and some of Paul’s friends (some of whom I have not met) have reached out to me personally to offer encouragement and words of wisdom. Some have been caregivers and understand the challenges that we are going through. Your love and prayers have kept me going and I am eternally grateful for that!
Since the end of August Paul has had several Specialist appointments: a Neurologist to evaluate his overall treatment path, a Neuromuscular doctor who gave Botox in his arm and leg to reduce contractures, a Neurosurgeon to evaluate replacing the skull bone that is in his abdomen back in his head, a Cardiologist to evaluate his heart condition and medications (as he has atrial fibrillation) and a Pulmonary doctor to evaluate his tracheostomy. He has also had a barium swallow test to evaluate his swallowing ability as he is still being tube fed.
On November 17th, Paul may get his trach closed off. Having a tracheostomy has caused him a lot of irritation and coughing and lack of sleep. He can breathe without it and he is not on oxygen.
On the therapy side of things, he receives Physical Therapy from Home Care and private about 3 times of week. The nurses also do stretching and strengthening exercises a few time a day. We sit him at the edge of the bed and take him outside in the wheel chair. He is still bed bound and has some strength on is right side but little to none on the left side. Speech therapy will be coming next week and will do cognitive and swallowing exercises. We hope that in time he will be able to eat normally and not rely on a feeding tube in his abdomen. It may take a while but we will move forward in that direction. Over the last 10 days, his voice has gotten stronger. We can now have 2-way conversations and he is aware of his surroundings and remembers details from the past which helps to make joint decisions.
Paul has had in-home care since the beginning of August. We now have a live-in nurse 5 days a week which has allowed him to receive consistent care. The other 2 nights he has a day nurse and a night nurse. The night nurse also works at Vibra Rehabilitation Hospital so skilled in rehabilitation. The day nurse is also a respiratory therapist. Paul has a great team of nurses that provide him 1 on 1 care that is not possible at any facility. He has also remained free of the infections that are common is hospitals and skilled nursing facilities. We are very thankful for the team that we have. Having an independent live-in nurse has reduced our out-of-pocket expenses from $31,000 a month to $10,500 a month. If you are able, we still need your help through Paul’s GoFundMe. It will be many many more months of 24/7 LVN nursing care. We hope to get to a point in the future where Paul just needs a nurse’s aide and then hopefully be independent.
Again, I appreciate the outpouring of love, prayers and support we have been shown over the last few of months
Menard
08-31-2021
Menard Jaramillo and Sean Mulligan are organizing this fundraiser on behalf of Paul Ripley's struggle to recover from a large stroke.
OUR GOAL is to get Paul to a healthier and stronger position where he can receive intensive physical, occupational and speech therapies at an acute rehabilitation hospital as they require Paul to be able to do 3 hours of therapy a day. He is currently receiving 24/7 nursing care at home as well as receiving physical and speech therapy. He is getting much, much better care at home than is possible in a skilled nursing facility which could expose him to many infections, thus setting him back. Your donation will go towards the home care that Paul needs to get to the healthy and stronger point where he can qualify to go to a specialty rehabilitation hospital. After rehabilitation, Paul would continue his recovery at home.
Please watch this video to see Paul performing one of the exercises at home care.
https://youtu.be/sVaJILyMkcM
OUR JOURNEY SO FAR – Albuquerque – Paul has been through quite a lot the last couple of months. He had a large Middle Cerebral Artery Stroke while on vacation in New Mexico at the beginning of June 2021. He spent 2 weeks in Neuroscience ICU at University of New Mexico Hospital where he received 2 life savings operations. He was then transferred to an Acute Care Hospital in Albuquerque (AMG Specialty Hospital) where he was stabilized medically over 6 weeks. His next steps are physical, occupational and speech therapy. He still has a tracheostomy; a feeding tube in his abdomen; is receiving medications for atrial fibrillation and is currently bed-bound. As he had a Craniectomy to relieve the swelling from his stroke, he will need to have a surgery at some point to replace the skull bone that was removed. He has made great progress over the last 2 months considering the extent of his stroke, but the next few months are critical to get him mobile. His physical therapist at AMG said that Paul had great potential to recover with extensive physical therapy but it will take time. He may never be his former self, but can gain mobility and improve the quality of his life. Paul has a positive spirit and wants to get better.
OUR JOUNEY BACK HOME – Rancho Mirage – We were fortunate to be able to bring Paul to our home in Rancho Mirage on July 31st and provide him in-home care. His only option when he was released from AMG Hospital in Albuquerque was to go to a nursing home as he didn’t qualify for an in-hospital rehabilitation facility. He would NOT have improved in a nursing home and would have declined drastically. Currently, Paul is receiving in-home nursing care in a safe environment. He is receiving physical therapy 3 times a week and is responding positively. Paul is able to speak intelligibly, but sometimes it is difficult to hear him due to the trach. He sleeps a lot as he is still recovering from the stroke.
WHY WE NEED YOUR HELP – With Covid Delta Variant cases on the increase, home care at this point is his safest option. Paul has had 3 rounds of Pneumonia, and a Staph infection during his 2-month hospital stays in Albuquerque. While Paul is improving, he is still very vulnerable. Getting Pneumonia again at a nursing facility would be a major setback for Paul. I am anticipating Paul will need to stabilize at home for at least 2-3 months before going to rehabilitation facility (such as Vibra) for physical, occupational and speech therapies. The stay there would be 21 days maximum. He would then be discharged back to home care to continue his recovery.
Medicare Home Health Care provides basic support and some physical therapy, but does not provide the 24/7 skilled nursing care that he currently needs due to the complexity of his condition. While he has long-term care insurance, this pays for only 30% of his round the clock nursing care that he needs. The current out-of-pocket expenses for unreimbursed nursing, medication co-pays, supplies and additional physical therapy exceeds $13,000 per month (9-22-21). If you can help monetarily to help Paul's recovery or are aware of any other resources or organizations that can assist, I would appreciate it. We need your help; we can't do this alone.
For those who know Paul well as a friend, family member or co-worker, he is loving, caring and selfless, always willing to help and mentor others.
It’s been difficult for me to navigate his care through Medicare and trying to do what is best for Paul. I appreciate the outpouring of love, prayers and support we have been shown over the last couple of months. This has been quite a journey for me as well. Many of our mutual friends and some of Paul’s friends (some of whom I have not met) have reached out to me personally to offer encouragement and words of wisdom. Some have been caregivers and understand the challenges that we are going through. Your love and prayers have kept me going and I am eternally grateful for that!